Michael had just waited on his last customer of the day and flipped the 'closed' sigh over as he locked the door.  Justin would be there soon and he was excited.  Despite the problems between Brian and Justin, being able to work on the comic was still exciting.  The first issue had literally flown off the shelves and a huge back order had been created by the internet advertisements that Brian had set up.  

Michael smiled.  He and Justin had made pretty decent money.  Enough for Michael to start a nice little nest egg for retirement.  He had no idea what Justin would do with his share, but that was really none of his business anyway.

The knock on the door startled Michael out of his thoughts.  He rushed over and unlocked the door for Justin.

"Hey, Boy Wonder."  Michael aid.  "I'm glad you showed up.  I wanted to throw some story ideas at you.  Find out what you thought of them."

"Okay."  Justin said non-commitally.

With in a few minutes the two men were immersed in the world of Gayopolis and the adventures of Rage and Zephyr.  They discussed, argued and debate the new storyline until well passed midnight.

Michael stood up and stretched.  "So, does the story work for you now, Justin?"

"Yeah."  Justin confirmed.  "It's a least as good as the first story." Justin put his hand over his mouth to cover a yawn and stood up.  "I can sketch out preliminary drawings as soon as tomorrow.  I'll rough them out and we can smooth them out together on the computer."  Justin shoved his sketch pad into his backpack.  He stretched and headed toward the door.

"Justin."  Michael called.  Justin turned back toward the other man.  "Thanks."

"What for?"

"For, well, for not giving up on ‘Rage’."  Justin gave Michael a doubtful look.   "I mean, I know he's just my dorky creation, but he means a lot to me, you know, and you could have very well told me to fuck off.  I'm just glad you didn't."

"Yeah, well..."  Justin trailed off before opening the door.

"You walking home alone?"  

"Yeah, I'll be okay."

"Let me walk with you, at least."

"That's okay."

"Oh, well, if somebody's waiting for you. . ."

"Nope.  Nobody's waiting on me."  Michael could plainly hear the sarcasm in Justin's voice.

"I'll drop you off then."

"Okay.  Fine."  Justin said.  "You can drop me at dorm #16."  Michael looked at Justin strangely.  "Been living there for a while now."  Justin answered the unasked question in Michael's eyes.  But, before Michael could say anything more, Justin cut him off.  "No personal business, remember?"

"Right, gotcha."

They drove to the dorm in semi-comfortable silence.  Although dying to ask a couple million questions, Michael refrained.  His 'friendship' with Justin was tentative at best and he had no intention of shaking it up.

"So,"  Michael began once he'd stopped in front of the dorm.  "Are you on board with the comic for sure, Justin?"

"For now."  Justin said.  "However, if it all gets to be too much for me, I reserved the right to walk away.  I'll find you another artist before I go, but . . ."

"Fair enough."  Michael said.  "Thanks.

Justin shrugged and got out of Michael’s car.  "See you tomorrow after class at the shop?" 

"Sure."

Michael watched as Justin entered the dorm building.  He sat thinking for several minutes after the door closed.  If Justin wasn't with Ethan any more, this might be easier than I thought it would be.  He thought.

--

The following morning Michael and Ben were sitting at a booth when Brian walked into the diner.  Scanning the room quickly before heading their way.

“Where were you last night, Mikey?”

“The store.”

“Inventory again, Mikey.”  Brian asked looking at Ben.  “Haven’t you two catalogued each other enough already?”

“Ha. Ha.”  Michael retorted.  “As you always say, Brian, there is no such thing as too much.”

“Right.”  Brian rolled his eyes and opened the menu.  “I waited at Woodys for you.  I ended up going to Babylon alone.”

“Sorry.”  Michael said.  “I forgot.  Justin and I got really involved in a new ‘Rage’ storyline and lost all track of time.”

”You and Justin?”

“Yeah, he agreed to work on the comic again.  The next issue is really cool.”  Brian stared at his best friend as if he’d grown a new head.  “Justin was reluctant at first, but I finally convinced him.”

“Really?”

“Sure.”  Michael said trying to gauge his friend’s mood.  “We didn’t get finished until like after midnight.  It’s a pretty good story, though.  Well, at least, I think it is.”  Brian pretended to be uninterested, but Michael knew he was listening intently.

“I wondered what time you got back.” Ben added.  “Didn’t even hear you come in.”

“Well, you were sleeping so peacefully, I tried not to disturb you.”  Ben smiled.  “But as sound asleep as you were, I couldn’t have gotten off with the whole house and you probably wouldn’t have noticed.”

“But, weren’t you glad that I did wake up?”  Ben purred a devilish smile playing at the corners of his mouth.  Michael blushed.

“Please.”  Brian said interrupting.  “I’m trying to eat here.”

“You’re a real comedian this morning, aren’t you?”  Michael countered.  Brian’s tongue found its way to his cheek.  “Anyway, I dropped Justin off at the dorm and headed home to ‘The Horny Professor’ here.”  Ben chuckled.

“The dorm?”

“Yeah.  So, anyway, you want to hear about the next issue of ‘Rage’?”

“No.”  Brian said leaving abruptly before either Ben or Michael could say another word.

End Chapter 3.